That Melody

Chapter 22

Bunga pov

Dad's coming home late today so I've got the house to myself, I start playing NCT Dream's Beatbox whilst cleaning the living room. The roomba goes around the room hoovering the carpet whilst I dance around it picking up objects from the floor and sofas and putting them in the right places and doing steps and back flips over the step board. The ceiling is pretty low but I'm not that tall either so it's pretty safe.

Dad was going to defrost the Nasi Kandar that's in the freezer from Nenek and Datuk (grandma and granddad)'s last visit but then Aunty Phueng said she'd send Chai over with some Khao Soi later on so I've just got to clean the kitchen and living room and I'm free.

The living room is decent sized so it takes a while to clean, the landlord tried to make it into a third bedroom after his tenants moved out and new ones moved in but I think he must of realised after those tenants that wasn't working out so he fixed it before we moved in. The kitchen however is very small and cramped. With a door next to the front door blocked off by the fridge, the only entrance is the sliding door  in living room, despite the size it takes a while to clean, especially after dad makes midnight snacks.

I don't really exercise much but dancing while cleaning like now tends to be a good workout if I do it right but sometimes I dance too hard and this causes muscle pain.

By the time Dad arrives at home, I'm sprawled out on the sofa eyes glued to the TV, unable to move my limbs without them sending pain signals to my brain. "Daaaaad!" I say. "I can't go to school tomorrow."

"Why?" he asks as he takes off his shoes and Chai follows behind him with our dinner.  

Chai peers into the living room where the evidence of my sudden solo dance party took place. "Muscle pain," he answers for me. "Mum's got some pills for that."

"Is it herbal?" Dad asks.

"It's got khamin chan, boswellia and black sesame seeds in it," he recalls. 

"You've got to translate Chai," I say. "We don't speak Thai."

"Uh.... I... actually don't know what it's called in English," he says. "Let me call Mae."

I can seem him blushing from embarrassment as he comes and sits down beside me and gets out his phone. He dials his mum's number and when she finally picks up he starts talking to her in Thai, the conversation goes on for five minutes as Thai's dad had to join in the conversation until they finally say "turmeric."

"It's means turmeric," Chai announces. "Mum can you bring some of the pills over, you said it was fast acting relief right?"

"Yes," she responds. "I'll be there in five minutes."

The sudden language switch makes us laugh as Chai shrugs and says "Multilingual problems."